It is in this industry that , Zimbabwean born , Taurai Jack found his big financial break after bouncing from industry to industry in search for the financial freedom of his dream . All this was as a means to set himself and his family free , socio economically .
“ I was a foster child . Not because both of my parents passed away unexpectedly and I got ‘ plugged into the system ’ but because my parents abandoned me by their choices . My biological mother left me in a soccer stadium when I was only around two months old .
“ Like many children in South Africa , I didn ’ t have a mom and dad I could fall back onto when things became financially challenging . When life wasn ’ t working out the way I had dreamed or hoped for . I had to decide , on my own , how I would respond . These challenges built the tenacity in me to succeed and the drive to work three times harder than my counterparts so I could create a legacy of substance ,” Jack says .
First Exposure to Business Growing up , Jack ’ s business minded grandmother , street vendor with a vegetable market in Harare , Zimbabwe inspired the zeal in Jack ’ s passion in business . During the school holidays he would join his old lady and work for some pocket money , which assisted in providing food for his family .
“ I learned a lot from Gogo and I am grateful for those times . Deciding to work in that veggie market was one of the many reactions to challenging situations that moulded me into thinking creatively about income generation ,” he says .
Like any other young child from a disadvantaged background , after finishing his schooling , Jack looked for employment and got employed with the banking sector . He says upon learning that there were possible retrenchments at his job he decided to be proactive and look for other streams of making money .
“ I began looking for alternative streams of income before retrenchment became a reality for me . I thought , ‘ How do I keep ahead of inflation ? How can I build and sustain the lifestyle I envision for myself ?”
So , I started a car rental business in the days before Uber . We eventually sold the cars for a profit and ploughed the money into new businesses .
Car Rental - His first business ventures as an entrepreneur was a car rental business which didn ’ t last long before selling the cars to start another one .
SA Real Estate Investor Magazine JULY 2021 23